U.S. General Services Administration
With market insights gathered from domestic manufacturers, local suppliers, small businesses, and environmental and labor groups, GSA has announced a pilot of new requirements for the procurement of substantially lower embodied carbon construction materials in GSA projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act will lower costs for families, reduce the deficit, and combat the climate crisis — marking the most significant legislative step forward to cut carbon pollution in history. For GSA, it will make our federal buildings more sustainable, higher performing, and more cost-efficient through next generation technologies and low-embodied carbon materials — accelerating efforts to achieve a net zero federal footprint, catalyzing American innovation and saving taxpayers millions in energy costs.
GSA has committed that no funds provided with the Inflation Reduction Act will be used to install fossil fuel-based equipment, an important step to ensure every dollar of this funding will go towards meeting the Administration’s goal of a net-zero emissions buildings portfolio by 2045.
The Inflation Reduction Act
provides $3.4 billion for
GSA’s Public Buildings Service for:
$2.15 billion for low-embodied carbon materials in construction and renovation projects.
This will give GSA an opportunity to leverage the federal government’s purchasing power to drive markets for low embodied carbon products, meaning products that have fewer greenhouse gas emissions associated with their production, use, and disposal. Specifically, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Buy Clean Initiative is focused on asphalt, concrete, flat glass and steel. These materials account for nearly half of all U.S. manufacturing greenhouse gas emissions and represent 98% of the government’s purchased construction materials.
$975 million for GSA to support emerging and sustainable technologies.
This investment will build on GSA’s proven track record of using our federal building portfolio as a testbed for clean energy innovation, and as a real-world example of deploying successful sustainable building technologies – from net zero and smart building accelerators and advanced energy and water conservation measures to metering infrastructure and electric vehicle charging systems. GSA’s Green Proving Ground Program has tested hundreds of technologies in GSA buildings, delivering millions of dollars in savings and avoiding 58,000 tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions.
$250 million to turn even more GSA facilities into High-Performance Green Buildings and accelerate efforts to achieve a net-zero federal footprint.
High Performance Green buildings are buildings that integrate multiple sustainability features together to maximize emissions reductions, minimize inefficiencies, and ensure health and safety. These investments in federal buildings will accelerate efforts to achieve a net-zero emissions buildings by 2045 and build on GSA’s industry-leading best practices using proven and new technologies to improve building performance.
Inflation Reduction Act benefits
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Reducing harmful emissions
In total, Inflation Reduction Act investments from GSA are expected to help drive an estimated avoidance of more than 2.5 million metric tons of emissions. That is the equivalent of taking more than 500,000 gas-powered vehicles off the road for a year.
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Creating good-paying jobs
These projects will create good-paying jobs in communities across the country. GSA estimates that the $3.4 billion it will invest through the Inflation Reduction Act will create over 9,500 average annual economy-wide jobs across the length of the projects, support $2.8 billion in labor income, and generate nearly $1 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments.
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Catalyzing American innovation
By increasing demand for low-carbon materials and emerging and sustainable technology here in the U.S., these investments will strengthen America’s domestic industrial base and catalyze innovation and job growth in homegrown industries that produce next-generation materials, products, and equipment.
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Improving efficiency and reducing long-term costs
By making federal buildings more energy-efficient, these projects will reduce operating costs and save money for taxpayers over time. They are estimated to support $710 million in cost avoidance over the next 20 years, building on the fact that GSA’s Public Buildings Service has avoided over $638 million dollars in energy costs alone since 2008 through energy efficiency improvements and other investments.
For further reading
- GSA Administrator visits Arizona to announce first Inflation Reduction Act projects at federal facilities
- CleanEnergy.gov
- The Inflation Reduction Act guidebook
- Interim IRA low embodied carbon pilot [PDF - 88 KB]
Buildings are a significant contributor to carbon emissions, with building operation comprising 28% of total annual greenhouse gas emissions, and building materials and construction comprising another 10%.